Agent of SHIELD
by Griever456
Summary: This is a story about an Agent of SHIELD who wants to be more like the Avengers and embarks upon becomming a field agent. Eventual romance/smut with the Cap ;) This is my first ever FanFic guys, so please be kind!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1; Field Agent

You were an Agent of SHIELD and had been for almost 2 years now and loved it. Although, as much as you loved your job, you were feeling lately as though something was missing and that something was action. Your day job was all about collecting and analysing data brought in from the field and sometimes interrogating those brought in from the field, but now you longed to be out there gathering the information and tackling the bad guys yourself.

The inspiration for this change in you had come largely from the Avengers Initiative. You couldn't lie, seeing the group all suited up ready for action reviewing footage of them in the field made you long to be superhuman like them. But for now, baby steps, first you needed to apply for the field agent position. The application process was not easy; you would be tested academically and on your current skill set, followed by psych evaluations and lastly a field test. Given the only thing you really did at present was desk work, this meant a lot of working out and a serious training regime, fortunately you had decided to start your preparations months ago so when the vacancy came up you would be in peak shape to apply and take on anything they threw at you. You were fine with the academic tests, using your skills in data and tech on a daily basis you were able to sail through these tests, physical training was a little harder. You had started 6 months ago, you found a gym, well not so much a gym more a boxing club with a few pieces of equipment that suited you. First it was near work and second it wasn't some new techo awesome gym filled with the super fit and super thin who would make you feel bad, this was a place for hard work, filled with hard workers and fighters and that's exactly what you wanted to be. You were quite happy to come up with your own routine, but after a few weeks the owner of the gym came over to you.

"so, you wanna get fit?" he asked you in a strong accent. " I seen you comin' here for a few weeks, you're doing good but could be better."

First off you were a bit annoyed by this, you were proud of your achievements so far and felt they were better than good! You stopped yourself before coming back at the guy with wisecrack answer, instead you could use all the help you could get. You scanned the man up and down, he didn't look much. Fairly short for a guy around 5"8 maybe in his 50's or 60's with a swarthy tanned look about him. His face looked like it had seen its fair share of action, his nose had clearly been broken a few times and there was a deep but old scar on his right cheek, which had healed and gone into a white spidery line down his face. He didn't wear typical gym clothing; instead he was in old beat up khakis a vest, which was stretched tight, over his gut and an unbuttoned checked shirt. The overall impression was that of an old boxer, a powerful man now gone slightly to seed.

He extended his hand to you; "name's Joe, this is my place. If you wanna get tough this is the place to be. I'll help you where I can, but you gotta help yourself too".

You took his hand in your firmest grip to try and impress on him that you weren't messing around. "Olivia Gold" you replied, "but please call me Liv". Joe smiled a crooked grin, it was clear a few swings to his jaw had previously misaligned it and taken a few teeth with it too. Removing his hand from yours Joe stroked his stubbled chin. "so whatcha doin' it for?" your face must have gone blank as Joe elaborated; " whatcha training for? Army? Special forces? I've seen the routine your trying and ain't for no new celebrity craze, you're trying to be serious about this".

" I am. You replied. "I …er…" you stumbled slightly, could you trust Joe? Would he laugh at you? Was he a plant by another Agent to get the drop on you in the test? You scanned him again. You were a good judge of character, you had to read people quickly in interrogation and learn whether they were telling the truth and detect what they were hiding and weedle it out of them. Joe's body language was open and he seemed pretty straightforward. You decided it was worth sharing a little more information " something like that, it's for a new job".

" ok, ok I won't press ya, but it can help to know what to give ya to do. I won't tell ya tell to do gym stuff 'cos ya don't do that in real life, I'll give ya practical skills to do".

"sounds good. When do we start?" you asked Joe.

"now".

Joe hadn't lied the training was tough. He took you out to a large room in the gym; in the middle was a boxing ring with a couple of guys sparring, fortunately that wasn't for you. Instead Joe directed you to a large chain piled up at one end of the room.

" see that chain? I want you to grab one end and run to the other side of the room dragging it across, when you get there stop and pull the chain towards you. Then repeat to the other side. You need to do this 6 times. If you're going to be doing the sorta thing I think you will, then you may need to drag bodies, equipment, anything out there, this is what I meant by practical skills, bench presses can't help you with this stuff".

Wow, Joe was right you hadn't really thought about that kind of scenario. You nodded to Joe and went to take up the chain, it was heavy to lift, and each link must have been about the size of your hand. Giving it a tug you realised this was going to be tough.

" it ain't going to move itself" Joe bellowed having retreated to a comfy looking chair by the door. You shouldered the chain and began to walk down the length of the room.

"faster than that princess!" Joe shouted, you tried to run but it felt more like jogging on the spot, the sheer weight of the chain kept you nearly still. After what must have only been minutes (but felt like hours) you reached the end, red faced and out of breath. Dropping the chain, breathing deeply trying to catch your breath you turned to Joe. "Good, now pull it all in". You bent over and began to haul the chain towards you, pooling it at your feet feeling all the muscles in your shoulders and upper arms screaming with protest at each pull. Once finished Joe shouted again, " now repeat to the other side! Hustle this time you gotta do 5 more" Oh my god you thought to yourself, those Avengers make this stuff look so easy! If only I was a super woman….

You completed the 5 further reps with difficulty and slowly, but completed nonetheless. You were really red now, gasping for breath, sweat had drenched the front of your grey work out vest into a V –shape front and back with beads rolling down your face. You turned to look at Joe, unable to speak. He got up and made his way over to you. " not bad for a start. Now let's get you skipping before push ups and a bit of boxing to finish today". You couldn't object, you couldn't find your voice; instead you followed Joe to a unit by the wall, which held weights and other gym apparatus.

" you'll need to be light on your feet, skipping will help you with agility, get you dancin'" he almost laugh out the last word and tossed you a rope. You hadn't skipped since you were a child and didn't know if you could. Positioning the rope behind your ankles you swung and jumped and completely miss timed your skip, falling flat on your face. Joe barked out a laugh and you glanced up in anger at him, he didn't look like he could manage a skip "come on toots get up! I know a 95 year old who can do better than that!" you heard someone else in the gym let out a "ha" to that remark which really got your adrenaline going. You would not be defeated. The new surge of adrenaline in your blood made you jump to your feet and try a skip again, this time you did it and kept on doing it. Joe nodded approval at your progress and after a few minutes told you to stop. "now, proper push ups" You didn't think your arms could take much more, but you followed Joe's instructions nonetheless. Your push-ups were wobbly, the mix of exhausted arms and lack of core strength was really telling in this exercise. After 20 shaky push up Joe stopped you once again and gave you some water. "now how to throw a punch" Joe said as he guided you to a punch bag passing you a pair of boxing gloves to wear in the walk over. He motioned to the bag, " give it your best shot" this was fine you thought, I know how to throw a punch, no problem. You swung at the bag hitting hard with your fist, and it didn't even move, but your hand hurt like hell. Joe let out another humourless cackle at your efforts. " no this is how you punch" with that Joe struck the bag and surprisingly, despite his appearance, made the bag swing around. He showed you how to make your fist and how to swing with more body weight than just your arm alone so your next punch swung the bag a little. "good! Now keep doing it, left then right, jab and hook" This was more like it, despite the burning in your arms, you felt this was going to be your best exercise. Joe called you to a halt after a few minutes " that's it. Keep doing this and you'll be as fit as a marine." "how about as fit as an Avenger?" you managed to say in between ragged breaths. Joe grinned, nodded and laughing lightly he walked away.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

You had started a routine of a morning 5k run with your gym session with Joe in the evening 6 times a week. At first, the sessions made you feel like you wanted to die, walking around the office the day after you felt you'd been run over, all muscles ached and it didn't seem to be getting any easier. After around a month things began to change, you noticed a change in your body, your posture was better, you seemed taller somehow, there was a purpose; a spring in your step, your body felt tighter, leaner and full of energy, ready for action at a moments notice. This must be how it feels to be an Avenger you thought and this thought carried you through your gruelling regime. You kept your new feelings to yourself and remained in your old now slightly baggy uniform, you didn't want any other agents to notice your hard work, it was important that they underestimated you – this job was yours! Joe hadn't really given any more encouragement, instead he would call out at you from the comfort of his chair to be quicker, tougher, hit harder, getting you to build up your grit and stamina.

After 6 months training you were barely recognisable from your old self. You were truly fit now; your body was like a machine, slim, agile and ready for anything. The field test couldn't come soon enough.

The day of field the field test had arrived and you were ready. The test was an AI simulation of an old mission and you would be assessed on how you handled it. That was all the information you were given. You and the other applicants were to meet agent Hill at the AI suite at 0900 for your briefing and then the test. You weren't given anything special to wear all was to be provided at the test. So just before 0900 you made your way to the AI level. Nerves were collecting in your stomach now and you wondered exactly why evolution had deigned to give you such a useless emotion, how on earth can nerves help me you thought as you arrived feeling slightly nauseous at the AI suite entrance. Some candidates from other departments were already there and you could overhear their conversations;

"do you think it will be an old Hydra mission?" " ooo maybe it will be New York…" "I hope it's that mission I've been studying what went wrong there…"

These snippets did nothing to alleviate your worries, you hadn't researched any missions, as you had been too busy training and working. Surely the assessment was how you dealt with a situation for yourself and not copying what's gone before? Or should you have read up on it? What did SHIELD want from their agents? Panic was setting in now and you could feel you palms sweating slightly, maybe you should leave and come back another time more prepared…. Just as you thought this the door swung open and agent Hill stepped out. Acting like a military colonel, Hill summoned you all together and called for silence. Now the group was together you could see there was around 12 of you. " Agents assemble! You are all here for the AI field assessment as part of the process to become a field agent. If you have changed your mind now is the time to say as it will be difficult to leave during the assessment." You glanced around, no one left. "Good. I will now brief you on the mission. We have received intel that there is a secret HYDRA lab located in a remote mountainous region of Eastern Europe. We have previously sent in a team to take care of this base but they have not returned. Your mission is to infiltrate the base, gather data on what they are doing there, destroy the base and get out. Marks will be awarded for completion of each objective and for successfully getting back to base. You will be assessed individually and as a team. If anyone needs to leave the AI at any point simply shout out "Agent Hill I quit!" and I will take you out. Understood?" There were murmurings of yes ma'am and yes agent Hill throughout the group. "Good" Hill nodded, "follow me". You joined the group if following her into the AI suite. You had never been in here before, it was like a massive empty warehouse with a circle of consoles in the middle. You were instructed to each make your way to the consoles. Another Agent came round and secured a helmet over your head, a VR headset was lowered over your eyes with microphone to your mouth and headphones by your ears too. The screen was complete darkness, and you were very aware of the increased rate of your breathing Agent Hill appeared on screen and spoke " the scenario will begin 5, 4, 3, 2…1!" with that the screen burst into life, you were on a snowy mountainside of the edge of a great forest. The sky was grey and full of snow, above a large mountain range. You were dressed in snow combat gear; white jackets and combats. Checking your pockets you found you had a pistol, machine gun over your back and a knife if your boot.

Raising the machine gun sight to your eye you saw the entrance to the base in the mountainside and saw the 2 guards patrolling it. Classic Hydra you thought as you saw they were wearing black gas mask like devices across their faces with head to foot black clothing. Each guard was carrying a machine gun, but unlike a normal gun they seemed to glow with a blue hue.

Time to move out you through as you came out from the forest edge toward to entrance to the base. You didn't have a plan, the entrance as completely exposed you would need a distraction. You had an idea, it was a bit reckless, but it was an idea.

As you began to climb down you realised you hadn't asked Agent Hill if you could die in this environment…. Shimmying along the rock face you were nearing the precipice where the guards were patrolling. You kept moving until you were positioned directly beneath the guards path, listening for the crunches his boots made in the snow you worked out how many paces he would take to reach you, when the crunches stopped you sprang up and grabbed him by the ankle pulling him over the mountains edge. The scream he let out as he fell to his death alerted the other guard on the opposite side, when he ran over to tried to pull him over the edge too but he was prepared and sprang back, firing a shot of blue (flame? Energy? What was that stuff?!) At you. The bolt missed you by a mile, but took a large chunk of rock out of the Cliffside. You pulled yourself up over the edge and ran toward the guard, the guard was trying to get a shot of you with his gun but you were able to reach him and knock him down first with just one punch. Joe's sessions had paid off you thought as you reached down to pick up the glowing blue gun. You turned then gun on the guard and tried to get some information out of him. "what is this place? What are you doing here?" The guard spoke back in German, which fortunately you understood.

"Allied scum! You will never stop Hydra! Cut off one head two more will grow! The Red Skull will control the world! Hail Hydra!" with that he began to convulse and you realised he'd taken a cyanide pill. Realising he was no more use, you tried out the blue gun on him, the guard disintegrated in a blue flash, no trace was left of him! These were weapons like you hadn't seen before! You had researched Hydra missions but this had never been disclosed before, clearly SHIELD didn't want people knowing about these…. You kept the gun and ran to the door, firing the gun again blew a hole through for you and you entered the base. You wondered how the other agents were doing as you ran down the corridor meeting surprisingly little resistance, each time you met a guard you greeted them with a blast from your gun. Realising they must know you were there now you decided to know out the next guard and steal their uniform, ditching the white combat gear.

You managed to sneak up on a guard from behind and know them out with the butt of your Hydra gun. Dragging the guard into a nearby room you were able to undress him and steal his clothes. Pulling on the black uniform you realised you should have picked a better smelling guard, he stank, the things I do for a promotion you muttered as you changed quickly. The uniform was ill fitting but it did the job. Utilising your new disguise you managed to find a wall sign pointing in German to a laboratory, remembering the objective to collect data you thought this to be a good first stop. You ran down the corridor as light footed as could to the lab, peering round the door the lab was filled with large vats, perfect for you to hide behind sneaking behind the nearest vat you were able to listen to snippets of one half of a telephone conversation.

"….yes, yes, the serum is nearly ready. Tell Schmidt replicating Erskine's work has not been easy! Especially since he was unable to retrieve the American sample….Yes we will trial it on the prisoners…don't worry they will fight for us! Hail Hydra!" the received was replaced and you heard the scientist complaining under his breath about trying to rush things. You emerged from your hiding place and confronted the doctor. " Schmidt needs the prisoners" you said making use of the name you heard in your eavesdropping " take me to them" the doctor looked at you, "I have told Schmidt not yet!...Such impertinence from a level 1 solider! How dare you address me! Does Schmidt think it funny to send me lackeys now?!" oh damn, you thought, you clearly had knocked out a low level guard….you had no choice, you punched the doctor square in the face sending him to the floor clutching his now bloody nose, " where are the prisoners?" "argh! No need for that! The scientist managed to muffle through his now bloody hands "the lower levels" he removed one hand and gesture to door to your right. "thanks" you said as your promptly knocked him out and dragged him to your hiding spot behind the vat.

You followed the path to where the doctor had pointed and descended the stairs. The room was dimly lit, you were walking along a metal catwalk over …cells? You were over the prisoners?! Looking down you saw movement in the darkness and could hear whispers in American and British accents. A guard was patrolling the catwalk, you ran over and smashed him on the back of the head with your gun. As the prisoners were below he seemed to be the only guard. You searched his body and found the keys to the cells. The prisoners were staring at you, realising you still had your Hydra helmet on removed it.

"sorry to disturb fellas, I'm with SHIELD". You threw the keys down into a cell to the waiting hands of what looked like an Allied solider, "open up all the cells, lead everyone upstairs and through the lab. Take a left and follow the path; that will take you out to an exit near a forest. Wait for me there" The solider saluted you "Yes ma'am" you grinned and turned on your heels to get back to the lab. That was one objective done. Back in the lab you search around for any data for your second objective. You discovered a dossier full of notes on serum, weapons and bombs. You stashed this inside your uniform. Right, time to get out you thought.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

You could hear to prisoners on the stairs, good they were nearly free, time to destroy this place. You set off looking for anything you could use, an armoury, self-destruct switch, anything handy, but nothing could be found. You kept on through the base, it was only when you were approaching the control room you realised you hadn't seen a guard in a while. This is odd you thought as you crept into the control room….this also seemed deserted. You smelt a rat but what could you do? There was no one to fight…

You made your way carefully to the panel of screens and buttons on the other side of the room, that's when you realised the screens were all CCTV, you could see the prisoners running out where you told them to, but this means you had been seen coming in! it was a trap! You spun round ready to sprint out of the room and stopped when you saw who came in. It was the Red Skull himself, devoid of all disguises with a group of 6 Hydra soldiers.

" well well! If I had known we were expecting SHIELD today I would have prepared an extra special cell for you!" Red Skull smirked to himself and began to pace the room, clutching his hands behind his back. His guards trained their guns on you, "think fast think fast!" was all that was going through your mind, you knew this had seemed too easy, this must be the final level of my test.

"You have released my test subjects Fraulien, who am I to raise to greatness now hmm?" Red Skull continued to pace while you frantically scanning the room for anything you could find that could help you, and then you saw it, a self-destruct switch at the other end of the console. A plan formed.

You raised your Hydra gun in both hands and gently laid it on the floor. Red Skull grinned at you, he had won.

"yes, you will be my next creation Fraulien, you should feel honoured! Many would give their lives for such a privilege, and when you are ready, when my masterpiece is complete you will help me usher in a new world order!" His eyes were gleaming with this thought, grinning with victory he continued to pace the room.

Come on Liv you thought, time to finish the job. Red Skull looked toward a window on the other side of the room and you made a dive for the self-destruct lever and yanked it down with all your strength. You could hear Red Skull shriek "NOOOOOOO" as a German voice spoke over the PA system announcing a countdown and a 5-minute clock began to tick down on the console.

" You fool! End Her!" Red Skull shouted to his guards as he ran towards a small door at the back of the room. Before the guards to react you dived for the hydra gun you set down earlier, rolling over grabbing it and taking cover behind a desk. You could see bolts of blue flashing past you hitting the consoles and screens around you instantly disintegrating them. You edged your gun around the desk and fired a couple of blind shots, hearing a scream you guessed that was one down. Keeping low you scurried to a pillar and proceeded to take out a couple more guards. 3 minutes left on the countdown. You really had to get moving! The door you entered from was clear, and you decided to chance it, there was no way of getting Red Skull now he had a 2 minute lead on you, better to just head out and meet the rescued prisoners. You fired as you ran, sprinting for the door and miraculously making it through unscathed. You tore down the corridor nearly crashing into walls with the speed of your turns.

"60 seconds to detonation" the voice of the PA sounded. Oh god I'm going to die, I'll never make it you thought picking up your pace still further. My poor family, I never told them what I did for a living, they'll never know….I'm going to die for a job interview….just as these thoughts passed through your head another followed; "I'm not going to die, I can do this, COME ON!" you rounded the last corner and spotted the door you had blown a hole through to gain entrance, you were there! You were just through the door when the explosion happened; the force propelled you forward to the forest edge throwing you face first into the snow. You felt a hand on your shoulder, which gently rolled you onto your back. You opened your eyes grimacing in pain and saw the face of the solider you had thrown the keys to in the cell and knew you were all safe. He smiled at you and you smiled back; mission accomplished.

With that thought everything went black and you heard the voice of Agent Hill; "AI complete agent Gold, you will now leave the simulation". You reached up and removed your headset, you were the only agent left in the room, and you felt embarrassed, had you taken longer than everyone else? Did the others quit? You looked over to a control room where you could see Agent Hill and a couple of other people behind her you couldn't quite make out. "Please exit the suite Agent Gold. You will be debriefed shortly".


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

You walked out of the room confused as to what was happening, where was everyone? Out in the hall you saw your other agents and heard some mutter about you, before you ask what they were saying, Agent Hill came out of the suite followed by and older blonde man you didn't recognise.

" Thank you all for participating, we can only take one of you on to become a field agent and you all did extremely well and should be proud of yourselves. In the AI however, those of you who were killed in the field can leave now. That's Agents: Andrews, Bell, Carter and Davis." With this the four named Agents walked away. Eight to go your thought to yourself….

"Those of you who were captured can also leave. Agents; Allen, McKenna, Richards and Robinson" Another four walked away. Four to go….

"Those who did not complete all objective may leave. Agents; Smith and Walker." Two more left the hall…..

Oh my God, it's between me and Jones.

"Agents Gold and Jones, you both survived the mission, evaded capture and completed all objectives. It has been a tough decision between you two as you were both similarly matched in your academic tests. However, it comes down to who followed the orders most accurately. Agent Gold, locating and rescuing prisoners was not part of the mission. Following this path cost you considerable time. Jones, you stuck to the objectives and successfully completed the mission. Therefore it is the committee's decision that Agent Jones, you will be our next field agent."

Jones grinned and punched the air; "yesss! Thank you Agent Hill" and with a nod and salute to the unknown man; "Sir". " Report to Director Fury tomorrow at 0900 for further instructions" with a further nod Field Agent Jones strode away down the hall.

Hill turned her attention back to you, you couldn't believe your ears, you failed because you stayed to free other agents and allied forces? How was this a bad thing? " I know this is hard Agent Gold, but you did well, you can apply again in the future". Hill and the other man turned to leave, "Excuse me Agent Hill, I don't understand how freeing soldiers caused me to fail?" Hill and the man turned back around; "that was not your mission. How do you know what opportunities you missed because of the time spent in the lab? You may have been able to apprehend the Red Skull? Orders are orders Agent". Seeing your face she softened slightly, "I am sorry, Gold, that's the committees final decision".

With that Hill and the man walked away, you were stunned, you couldn't believe what had just happened, all that hard work, all those months, for nothing.

You collected your things from your locker and left work and automatically headed for the gym, as had nearly every day for 6 months. It hadn't sunk in; you failed…and failed because you saved men from certain death! You felt numb. What now? Maybe some boxing is exactly what you needed right now. You changed into your gym outfit; a white vest and skin-tight black 3/4 leggings. You bound your hands up and made you way to the punch bag, it was going to pay tonight!

You exhaled loudly putting on some loud music and popping in the earpieces, you loosened you neck and shoulders with a few stretches and took aim at the bag. Jab, jab, hook, jab, jab, uppercut, jab, jab, kick jab, double handed smash….the rage was building now, the injustice of it all hitting you hard. This was your dream, ripped away because you were a good person? Bullshit! Jab, jab, smash, Agent Hill was in your mind squeaking I'm so sorry in a mocking voice to you, you imagined punching her face, kick, uppercut, the words "final decision" echoed in your head; "arrrrrrghhhhh!" you cried out throwing everything you had at the bag, kick, jab, and with one final spinning kick you knocked the bag clean off its hook sending it skidding across the floor. You stood there breathing heavily, nothing left to punch, looking at the sad ruptured punch bag. You realised then you were crying, and wiped at your face with your bound hands, removing your earpieces as you did.

Joe saw you and had decided to leave you alone to work out your anger but on seeing this final smash he came over.

" I only know of one other person who tears through my punch bags like that" Joe shook his head looking at the bag… "….and he's 95"….

You laughed in spite of yourself. " yeah Joe, right. Who is the guy? Your grandpa?"

"No, it's me." Said a voice behind you, you turned to see….no…..oh my god…..Steve Rogers? Captain America? You mouth must have fallen open, he was stunning. You'd seen the footage of the Avengers in action and of the Captain in his Hey-Day, but they didn't do him justice. Steve had a small smile playing on his lips as his went to retrieve the wounded punch bag.

Joe chuckled and walked off back to his office.


End file.
